Saint Thomas Aquinas

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Here is the second installment concerning St. Birgitta and the Commandments. In the first post I covered the judgement that God brought against the Pope and the Laity. In this post I wanted to cover the actual punishments and the circumstances surrounding the punishments. I will first look at the Pope, his advisers, bishops and priests, and then the laity.

In speaking to Birgitta, we see Jesus giving a sentence to the pope for the unrepentant sins he had committed. These sins were not personal in nature but also sins which were leading many souls into hell. One of these sins was that of condemning the good and letting the evil go free. Hence letting those who lived in sin continue and persecuting those who were faithful. The pope instead of helping his flock to live the Commandments was actually confirming them in their sins. Sadly the laity was all too happy to keep living in their sins.

The Lord added, saying to the first of the five men: "The sword of my severity will go into your body, entering at the top of your head and penetrating so deeply and firmly that it can never be drawn out. Your chair will sink like a weighty stone and not come to rest until it hits the lowest part of the deep. Your fingers, I mean your advisers, will burn in an inextinguishable and sulphurous fire. Your arms, I mean your vicars, who should have reached out for the benefit of souls but reached instead for worldly profit and honor, will be sentenced to the punishment which David speaks, 'May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow and may strangers take over his property.' What does his wife mean if not the soul that is left out of the glory of heaven and will be widowed from God? His children, that is, the virtues they seemed to possess, and my simple folk, those who were placed under them will be separated from them. Their rank and property will fall to others, and they will inherit shame instead of their privileged rank. Their headgear will sink into the mud, an they themselves will never get up out of it. Thus just as through honor and pride they rose above others here on earth, so in hell they will sink so much more deeply than others that it will be impossible for them to rise. Their limbs, I mean, all the fawning priests who followed them, will be cut off from them and taken apart just like a wall that is torn down where stone is not left upon stone and the cement no longer adheres to the stones. Mercy will not come to them, for my love will never warm them nor build them into an eternal mansion in heaven. Instead, stripped of every good, they will be endlessly tormented along with their headmen.

These are certainly startling punishments, which begin with the Pope, then to his advisers, bishops and then priests. Do we see any similarity to our time where the pope's advisers tell him erroneous doctrine and encourage him to enforce them with the bishops across the globe? Those clergy who continue to encourage the laity to keep living their lives in a state of mortal sin will have much to answer for as we can see here. The scandals wee see involving the clergy are also similar to what we see here. It seems now as if we have a large division between the bishops and priests of the Church concerning important doctrine, for example doctrine concerning marriage and adultery. Let us pray for our Church and clergy so that they may not inherit similar sentences for confirming people in their sin. Next the laity are to receive their sentence. Surprisingly this sentence is short and quite interesting in the language that is chosen.

I say to the second man: Since you do not want to keep the faith promised to me or show love toward me, I will send to you an animal that will come from the impetuous torrent to swallow you. And as a torrent always runs downward, so the animal will carry you down to the lowest parts of hell. As impossible as it is for you to travel upstream against an impetuous torrent, it will be just as hard for you ever to ascend from hell.

This short description tells us a few things. For one there is the certainty of hell for those who remain unrepentant in their sins. Those who are unfaithful and who deny God his rightful place as King in their lives will be swallowed up into hell like he is being funneled down a flooding river. For the laity it seems that their punishment although still horrific is not as severe as the the clergy, who are drug down into the lowest parts of hell, in the mud as it were. However, it is interesting that Jesus says he will send the unfaithful laity "an animal" that will come from the torrent that will swallow them. What is this animal? Perhaps demons? Perhaps the corrupt clergy who confirm them in their sins? One thing is certain, we as the laity must not any excuse to live in sin or justify any sin. Even if we hear that it is OK to live in adultery, live a homosexual or promiscuous lifestyle, or in any other sinful state for that matter, we must resist such suggestions as if they are from the devils so that we may not end up being swallowed down the torrential river to hell. Let St. Birgitta's visions be a lesson for us and for our Church in our time!

Thursday, July 13, 2017

St Birgitta of Sweden is another one of my favorite Saints. Her writings, like St Catherine of Siena's are informative, inspirational and at times even overwhelming. The wonderful trait that I find among both of these women is their love of God and their desire to speak the truth on how we should live. They did not mince words. Contrary to our modern theologians in Rome and elsewhere who are now telling us that their type of theology was rigid, dry and lacking love, they preached the truth in season and out of season because the truth is love! The lies now being told from theologians on high are now reaching the point of blasphemy; for example, those claiming that those who preach that God's Commandments must be followed are now rigid fundamentalists who are hell bent on only following the "rules" are unjust in their accusations. This "rule" type of mentality is not nor has ever been part of Catholic teaching, and none of the Saints were guilty of this, nor are Catholics today who are attempting to follow in their footsteps. Loyal Catholics follow the Commandments because Christ told us to so, and we do so not out of just following the "rules", but because we trust God's word and we want to show our love for Him by attempting to follow the Commandments. There is a sense of justice when it comes to honoring God in His Commandments. If we fail in living them we go to confession and make a firm resolve not live in that sin again, with God's help.

In reading Book I of St. Birgitta of Sweden, Chapter 41, I thought it to be very interesting and thought provoking. We often think today that God grades everyone on a curve, at least that is what we are being told today by many theologians in the Church. For example, how about one of Pope Francis' top theologians Cardinal Coccopalmiero who refers now to marriage as "an ideal" that can not always be met, and therefore a person living in adultery could now receive communion, as long as his conscience tells him so. He gives us modernist doublespeak, “It is always the same doctrine, but it takes account of the concrete situation. You affirm the doctrine and can say they should live as brother and sister, but the reality at times does not make this possible.” Thus so we see that according to this Cardinal, God has given us a Commandment that is "impossible" to follow. Anyone who has common sense can see this error from a mile away. Let me get to the point of St. Birgitta's writing that I have come across, which in reality was a revelation given to her by Jesus concerning the just judgment and punishment he was going to inflict upon people. This punishment concerned the laity and also the Pope of her time in relation to His Commandments. The times in which she lived also saw great infidelity to Christ and His teachings, much similar to our own. I will give you a taste of what was revealed to her as a warning to all of us about taking His teachings and Commandments seriously.

The first person addressed is the pope himself.

"I now state my grievance about you, head of my church, you who sit on my seat. I gave this seat to Peter and his successors to sit on with a threefold dignity of authority: first, in order that they might have the power of binding and loosing souls from sin; second, so that they would open heaven for penitents; third, so that they would close heaven to the damned and to those who scorn me.

But you, who should be absolving souls and presenting them to me, you are really a slayer of souls. I set up Peter as shepherd and servant of my sheep. But you scatter and wound them; you are worse than Lucifer. He was envious of me and longed to kill none but me so that he might rule in my stead. But you are all the worse in that not only do you kill me by cutting me off from yourself by your bad works but you also kill souls through your bad example. I redeemed souls with my blood and entrusted them to you as a faithful friend. But you hand them back to the enemy from whom I redeemed them. You are more unjust than Pilate. He only sentenced me to death. But you not only sentence me as if I were a worthless lord of nothing, you also sentence the souls of my chosen ones and let the guilty go free.You are more merciless than Judas. He only sold me. But you not only sell me but also the souls of my chosen ones for your own base profit and empty reputation. You are more abominable than the Jews. They only crucified my body. But you crucify and punish the souls of my chosen ones for whom your evil and transgression are harsher than any sword. And so since you are like Lucifer and more unjust than Pilate and more merciless than Judas and more abominable than the Jews, my grievance about you is justified."

There are some interesting things to note here. Notice that Jesus is not upset about the pope holding the faithful accountable for their actions or being too strict on them for following the Commandments. Jesus is upset about just the opposite, for the pope being judgmental against those trying to live the Commandments and letting the guilty ones, those who are unfaithful to His Commandments, go free! Is Jesus not being merciful here? Is Jesus being too rigid? He is also upset because the pope is not guiding His flock which he has entrusted to them. Jesus says that the pope is in fact scattering his flock. I also found it interesting that he accuses this particular pope of being worse than Lucifer, Pilate and Judas! To say the least these accusations are not for the faint of heart. This is not the type of language our theologians today from on high would use, unless it be to criticize anyone actually trying to live their commitment to following the Commandments and not making them out to be just ideological suggestions.

The second accusation however is directed at the laity. They did not get off the hook just because the pope was worse than Lucifer, Judas and Pilate. Here is some of what Jesus says on the judgement of the laity.

The Lord said to the second man, that is, to the laity: "I created all things for your use. You gave your consent to me and I to you. You pledged me your faith and promised by your oath that you would serve me. Now, however, you have departed from me like someone who does not know God.You regard my words as a lie, my works as meaningless. You say my will and my commandments are too heavy. you have violated the faith you pledged. You have abandoned my name. You have disassociated yourself from the company of my Saints and have joined the company of the devils and become their associate. You do not think anyone is worthy of praise and honor except yourself. You find difficult everything having to do with me and you are obliged to do for me, while the things you do are easy for you. That is why my grievance concerning you is justified, for yo have broken the faith you pledged me both in baptism and subsequently.

Here Jesus is once again upset about the very same thing! The laity are also not following the Commandments! He says instead they join the company of the devils. Is Jesus again being too severe? Is he too rigid in insisting that we keep our pledge to Him? If we listen to many of today's prominent theologians we would think so.

This gives us food for thought. In my next post I will show you what Jesus said about the punishment for these offenses.

Monday, July 10, 2017

Edward Pentin recently posted a great article by Msgr. Michel Schooyans "on what he sees as the underlying causes of the current malaise in the Church and in wider society." It is worth the read! Click on the link below.

Our dedication to prayer is the only solution to the grave problems we have in the Church today. It is important to create a prayerful environment in your home. I encourage everyone to make your own home chapel or at least a prayer corner in your home. Since moving into my new home I have been progressively putting together my home chapel. Here is what I have done so far.

Live Mass!

Click Image to Watch the Extraordinary Form Everyday!

Catholic Champion Podcast on ITunes

Be sure to visit ITunes and subscribe to the Catholic Champion podcast. New sermons by the FSSP are now available. Go to the Itunes store and search in the top right text box for Catholic Champion. Subscriptions are free.

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”

Visit the Cardinal Manning Society

Cool Non-Catholic Sites

FSSP DVD

Get the instructional video on the Tridentine Liturgy.

Welcome to Catholic Champion blogspot.

It is important for people to have access to solid Thomistic Catholic reading material as well as solid spiritual sources. This is what I have now focused this blog towards. It is always a work in progress of course.